Good at Life, Defined

“Definitely,” Axel responded. Who knows how the topic of video editing came up.

“But would being good at life necessarily mean that you’re good at video editing?” I asked. Axel is always telling me I’m “good at life,” and I don’t think I could make a short film.

“No, being good at life is a different skill set,” Axel said. And then he started to formulate his personal theory of being good at life, which I of course took copious notes on, to share with all of you.

In Axel’s humble opinion, being good at life means you are good at all of the following areas:

Good at Life Domains:

Health – mental & physical. He thinks trying to be of “somewhat sound” mind and body is a characteristic of someone who’s doing well at life.

Nutrition – he named this as a separate category than the above.

Sleep – Axel notes that Domains 1, 2, and 3 are not always in your control. So I guess doing the best you can given the obstacles is what you would go for with these first three.

Family and friends – According to Axel, being good at relationships is part of being good at life.

Life Burdens – Axel defines these as “the burdens that are part of being alive.” These include things like shopping, submitting medical receipts to your Flex Spending Account, financial discipline, and paying bills. The key, Axel thinks, is how do you minimize the burden and maximize the benefit? You can’t eliminate these tasks, so how do you keep them from taking over your life?

Purposeful leisure – Axel muses that you can be good at work but still bad at life. In order to be good at life, you must have some non-work related activities that bring you joy and restoration.

Struggling in one of the above areas? All six? Why not pick one to focus on this summer?

I feel like I should add a disclaimer here. Once, I got dumped for being “too good at life.”